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The 520 reported disciplinary cases relating to financial misconduct in the public service have resulted in a staggering R1.2 billion loss to the state and the categories of financial misconduct that the reported cases relate to include misappropriation and abuse; fraud; corruption and irregular expenditure.

This is according to information contained in a report by the Public Service Commission (PSC) pertaining to financial misconduct across national and provincial government departments, for the 2021/22 financial year, and recently tabled in the National Assembly.

Also, according to the report by the PSC, the 265 reported cases relating to financial misconduct, in national departments, accounted for R1 billion of this staggering loss whereas the 255 reported cases, in provincial departments, accounted for R233 million of this loss.

Although the report does not identify the national departments that account for the 265 cases of financial misconduct in the public service, it does however identify the Eastern Cape as the province with the highest number of cases relating to financial misconduct with 83 cases involving an amount of R47 million; followed by Limpopo with 49 cases involving an amount of R406 000; and Gauteng with 48 cases involving an amount of R67 million.

The DA finds it disconcerting that, in the financial year under review, the country lost such an astonishing amount of money due to what is largely preventable financial misconduct in the public service. This money could have been saved had there been, amongst other things, stringent compliance with SCM prescripts as well as decisive consequence management in the affected government departments. Professionalisation of the public service will remain nothing but a pipe dream if there continues to be corruption and lax and ineffectual financial controls in the management of public funds.

What is even more bewildering is the fact that the total amount of money recovered as a result of this loss due to financial misconduct is only a mere R6 million out of the R1.2 billion involved.

The DA has submitted written questions to the Minister of Public Service and Administration requesting the names of the national departments that account for the R1 billion lost to financial misconduct in the public service as well as the amounts involved in each case and reasons for the low and poor recovery rate in each case.

The DA also calls on the Minister of Public Service and Administration together with the Department’s Public Administration Ethics, Integrity and Disciplinary Technical Assistance Unit to urgently intervene in this financial misconduct catastrophe in the public service and put in place measures that will curb financial misconduct in the public service.

Issued by Dr Mimmy Gondwe MP - DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration